Monsanto bid for Delta could run into trouble

Monsanto Co.'s attempt to buy southern seed giant Delta & Pine Land Co.
could be running into trouble as an unusual backlash against the proposed
combination is taking root across the U.S. Farm Belt, the Wall Street Journal
(WSJ) reported.

Monsanto, the world's leading developer of biotech crops, said in August that
it would buy Delta and Pine Land Co., the top U.S. seller of cotton seeds, for
$1.5 billion in a deal that would give Monsanto a dominant position in the $40
billion cotton seed market.

The deal would give Monsanto more control
over a major crop by a biotechnology company than ever before allowed, a
prospect that upsets anti-biotechnology activists, the WSJ reported.

Some
biotech-industry leaders are urging the attorneys general of several states to
look into the combination as an antitrust review by the Justice Department
extends into its fourth month, the paper said. Monsanto was not immediately
available for comment.